Unrestricted free agent quarterback Aaron Brooks, the former New Orleans starter released last week after the Saints signed Drew Brees, has reached agreement with the Oakland Raiders on a two-year contract.

Financial details of the contract were not yet available, but league sources said Brooks' compensation will be commensurate to that of many starters in the league, averaging between $4 million-$5 million. The contract will be signed later this week.

The agreement provides the Raiders, whose quarterback depth chart included only untested youngsters Marques Tuiasosopo and Andrew Walter, with a proven starter and a veteran who has amassed impressive numbers in the past. Oakland recently released Kerry Collins, its starter the past two seasons, for salary cap considerations, and has been considering a number of potential replacements.

It is not surprising that the Raiders settled on Brooks, because he has the kind of live arm and deep passing skills that owner Al Davis has long coveted.

Brooks, 29, met with Raiders coaches and team officials over the past two days and actually prolonged his stay by one day when Oakland indicated it might be interested in signing him. There was also interest over the weekend from Green Bay, the team with which Brooks began his NFL career in 1999.

But the deal with the Raiders, one of the few franchises in the league without a projected starter heading into the spring minicamps, certainly represented Brooks' best opportunity to regain his status atop some club's quarterback depth chart. Tuisasosopo is a terrific athlete, but only has limited experience in his five seasons, and has been inconsistent when given a chance to play. Walter is a big, strong-armed passer, but the third-round choice in 2005 did not take a snap as a rookie.

Some believe that Walter might be the Raiders' quarterback of the future, but the former Arizona State star needs time to develop, and the two-year contract with Brooks will give the Raiders a chance to groom him.

In 85 games, including 82 starts, Brooks has completed 1,563 of 2,771 passes for 19,156 yards, with 120 touchdown passes and 84 interceptions. He has thrown for over 2,800 yards in a season five times and had four straight 3,000-yard campaigns snapped last season. The former University of Virginia standout, chosen by the Packers in the fourth round in 1999 and then traded to New Orleans in 2000, averaged 15.4 starts per season from 2001-2005.

Brooks started all 16 games in every season from 2001-2004, but then was benched for the final month of the 2005 campaign, snapping that streak. While there is no denying Brooks' physical tools, some teammates have questioned his leaderships skills and toughness under fire. Quiet by nature, Brooks can be aloof at times and some have perceived that as a lack of passion.

That said, he was arguably the best starting-caliber quarterback still available in the free agent pool and is still young enough to have several productive seasons.

Decent move. Brooks has several problems but I think he could help a guy like Moss, plus it gives a guy like Andrew Walter (whom fans of the Pac-10 may remember from his days at Arizona State) some time to develop.

From my own perspective, it's not a great move, but it's not a terrible move either.

If he did, then it's caveat emptor because you never know which Aaron Brooks is going to show up. Like I said, sometimes he was unbelievably good with the Saints, then the next week he was unbelievably awful.

Brooks also had a bad habit of not always prepping for a game by studying film or even the game plan. You can get away with that in high school or college, but an NFL defense will steal your lunch money in a heartbeat if you're not ready. Part of the blame falls on Jim Haslett, who never could control him and just let him do his thing until it was too late.

You need a Parcells or Belichik to control him, otherwise he'll revert to bad habits, and you just wasted a ton of money, and games, on a quarterback who thinks his $hit don't stink, even when he's smelling up the entire stadium.

8
posted on 03/23/2006 7:55:37 AM PST
by ABG(anybody but Gore)
(If Liberals had as much passion for our troops as they did for Tookie, the war would be over...)

I wish we could have gotten Drew Breese, but that didn't happen. Brooks has to be better than Kerry Collins though.

If anything, us signing Brooks demonstrates just how bad Collins really was. Getting Brees would have been better in hindsight, but don't be surprised to see Andrew Walter get some significant time this season.

Now if the offensive line can keep this QB from getting rushed and sacked, we may be OK!

I don't know what the hell we're going to do about the line. Having Langston Walker out for almost all of last year and Barry Sims playing very spotty at LT didn't help. We need a guy like a Barret Robbins (pre-Super Bowl disappearance) or a Lincoln Kennedy type of guy to show some leadership on the line, but I think of all the problems that we had last year, this was probably one of if not the biggest one.

Anyway, hopefully we can get more than 4 w's out of Brooks...and GO RAIDERS!

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